Newberry County ScArchives Obituaries.....Greneker, Thomas Ferguson December 3, 1889
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George Gaston gmgaston203@yahoo.com January 26, 2013, 2:34 am

Newberry Observer   December 5, 1889
Tribute to Thomas F. Greneker

This past veteran journalist was born in the city of Charleston, S. C., March
2nd, 1827, and died at his home in Newberry on the 3d of December, 1889, in the
sixty-third year of his age. He was the eldest son of Captain Thomas Greneker,
of the Merchant Marine service. Having the misfortune to lose his parents while
quite a boy, with the further loss of a competency that would have given him a
classical education, he went into a printing office, after receiving a good
English education, as the best means at his command of acquiring that knowledge
which he sought and obtained his bright and retentive mind soon enabled him to
master the details of the business and he rapidly rose in the confidence of his
employers and the esteem of the craft.

Early in the fifties Mr. Greneker removed to Columbia and took charge of Dr.
Robert W. Gibbes large book and job printing and newspaper office, where he was
foreman of the State printing. Some time afterwards he and Messrs. Giles &
LaMotte published the third daily newspaper ever printed in Columbia. The name
of the paper was The Carolina Times. Disposing of his interest, he came to
Newberry about the year 1858, and was associated with Thos. P. Slider in the
Rising Sun, which newspaper he published until the Confederate war, when he
entered the service as a private in Colonel Edward's Thirteenth Regiment of
South Carolina Volunteers. Declining health caused him to return home. He was an
invalid to the day of his death, and notwithstanding the intense bodily pain
which he almost daily endured, he exhibited great energy and industry in the
successful management of the Newberry Herald (the successor of the Rising Sun),
which he conducted with his brother, R. H. Greneker. In 1884 the Herald was
consolidated with the Newberry News. For a number of years this venerable editor
was the trusted treasurer of the South Carolina State Press Association, until
the wretched condition of his health forced him to resign the position and also,
in 1885, to retire from journalism. He wrote with a fluent and facile pen.

Mr. Greneker was twice married; first, in Columbia, on the 30th of December,
1852, to Miss Mary Caroline Fritz. By this marriage three children were born,
one son and two daughters. Only one of these, Lula, wife of A. C. Jones, is now
living. His second marriage occurred on the 9th of August, 1864, to Miss Corrie
G. Sligh, of Newberry County, who survives him. Six children were born of this
marriage, four sons and two daughters, three of whom are now living: Sarah, wife
of C. C. Davis, Eugene and Claude.

Mr. Greneker was the founder of the Herald, and for nearly forty years was
identified with the journalism of this county. The best years of his life and
his energy and intellect were spent here in our midst in an effort to advance
the true interests of his adopted town and county and of his native State. He
was one of the organizers of the State Press Association and was a consistent
member of the Methodist Church - showing his devotion to Church and State - and
died in the assurance of a blissful immortality beyond the grave. He had a large
circle of acquaintances and many friends in the county and State.

Mr. Greneker was a genial, kind-hearted and hospitable man, and though a great
sufferer from ill-health, had a quiet vein of humor which made him a very
agreeable host and companion. Temperate and industrious, he acquired a
comfortable living for his family and kept a bountiful table in waiting for his
friend, who always received a warm welcome to his happy home. He fell peacefully
upon his last sleep.

 

Additional Comments:
Thomas F. Greneker was my maternal 2nd great-grandfather.

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